U.S. Companies Add More Jobs Than Forecast, ADP Data Show

U.S. companies added more workers than forecast in February, suggesting the jobs market was in good shape just as the coronavirus began rippling through the economy.

Businesses’ payrolls increased by 183,000 after a downwardly revised 209,000 gain a month earlier, according to ADP Research Institute data released Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 170,000 gain.

The biggest two-month gain in private payrolls in almost two years offers a snapshot of a robust labor market before coronavirus fears slammed headlong into financial markets and tested business confidence. To guard against further erosion in sentiment and ensure the record-long expansion remains intact, the Federal Reserve cut rates half a percentage point on Tuesday.

As business reopenings picked up nationwide, Americans filed nearly 2 million applications for unemployment benefits last week, reflecting a slowing -- though far from a halt -- in job losses.
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